Instructor Bios

Instructor: Allison Houtz

Bio: Houtz has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Susquehanna University. She has furthered her studies in Early Childhood Music Education through graduate courses with John M. Feierabend from The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, including "First Steps in Music" and "Conversational Solfege." Allison has eight years of experience working in early childhood and began teaching in the Music Preparatory Program in 2005. She was also music director for the Selinsgrove High School Musical for two years. She is a member of the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association and the Susquehanna Valley Chorale.

Instructor: Anne Lawrence

Bio: Lawrence has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Susquehanna University and has taught music for thirty-five years in the Lewisburg Area School District. She has taught as an adjunct instructor at Susquehanna as well as Bucknell University. In addition she has 25 years of experience as director of church music, has served as guest conductor for children's choir festivals and is a member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the American Choral Directors Association.

Director: Mary J. Lippert-Coleman

Bio: Mary Lippert-Coleman is Director of the Susquehanna University Music Preparatory Program. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. She taught in the Williamsport Area School District as a music educator for 28 of her 31 years in the public system and was instrumental in the development of the middle-school music curriculum in the Williamsport schools. Since her retirement she has worked as an instructor and supervisor of students enrolled in music education at Susquehanna University as well as Penn State University. She is a past president of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and recently served as Retired Members Chair for District 8, PMEA. She is a certified Suzuki Piano teacher and teaches privately in her home studio.

Instructor: Jennifer Sacher Wiley

Bio: Sacher Wiley is associate professor of strings at Susquehanna University. She earned the D.M.A. from the University of Minnesota where she studied violin performance with Sally O’Reilly. She also holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the New England Conservatory. As a soloist, Sacher Wiley has appeared with the Des Moines Symphony, the Central College-Community Orchestra, the Central Pennsylvania Orchestra, and the Williamsport Symphony. She has developed her private teaching through participation in the Starling-DeLay Symposium for Violin Studies at the Juilliard School and the seminar "Teaching Violin to Children" at Indiana University. Wiley has competed twice as a semi-finalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Ind. She lives in Lewisburg, Pa., with her husband and two children.